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When you get a smartphone ready to trade in or sell, you should wipe the device so your personal information is no longer on it. But apparently, with some Android phones, doing a full factory reset doesn’t actually remove your text messages, emails, Google search histories, contacts, documents, family photos and naked bathroom-mirror selfies. …

Early this morning, the company closed on its approximately $7.5 billion acquisition of Nokia’s hardware operations. Although Nokia is not the monster it once was – particularly in the smartphone arena – it remains the No. 2 seller of mobile phones in the world, behind Samsung. And some of them are running Android. …

It’s been obvious for a while that smartphones have reached a plateau of design and innovation. The stall began, I think, with the iPhone 4S and Samsung’s Galaxy S3. Ever since the introduction of those two flagship models, critics and many consumers have complained that what was once a rapid pace of development has slowed […] …

In 2006, Google engineers were hard at work prepping Android, a free operating system to be offered to smartphone manufacturers. In January 2007, their work would be disrupted by the unveiling of Apple’s first iPhone, sending them back to the drawing board. In a December 2013 story in The Atlantic, engineer Chris DeSalvo says the […] …

Flappy Bird, the crudely rendered and frighteningly addictive smartphone game that rose to the top of bestseller charts, is indeed no more. As Vietnamese creator Dong Nguyen promised via his Twitter account last week, the game has been removed from the iTunes App Store and the Google Play store. Nguyen, who has turned down interviews since announcing his hit game was going away, finally surfaced in Hanoi to talk with Forbes. …

Owners of devices that use Google’s Android operating system have long complained about not getting timely updates. That’s because, once Google releases a new version of Android, both the handset maker and the carrier get a shot at tweaking the software, updating their included apps, then testing and certifying it for specific devices.

It turns out this process is ridiculously complex. Handset maker HTC, in a burst of transparency, has outlined in an infographic what it takes to get an Android update out the door. It isn’t pretty.

• Trouble in Austin: Apple repeats last year’s iMac holiday shortage with the Mac Pro – If you order a Mac Pro today, it will ship sometime in February. • The new Mac Pro: First impressions – It’s smaller and yet heavier than you’d expect, and early benchmarks show it’s really, really fast . . […] …

• Apple Adds ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle, and KORTV Channels to Apple TV – The channel lineup for Apple TV continues to grow. Most notable is the addition of Watch ABC, which lets you watch network shows on demand and live content from your local ABC affiliate. But you must have a cable provider to use …

• NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking – Google uses cookies to track its users’ activities on the Net. The NSA figured out it can piggyback on those cookies to help identify subjects for surveillance. • New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data – The Washington …

What’s the most you would be willing to pay for a quality, well-designed mobile phone? $200? $500? Maybe a little more? The world’s most expensive cellphone goes for about $15,000 – and it’s not even a smartphone. It’s made by a company called Vertu in the United Kingdom, which is the subject of a fascinating …

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